ArticleeLife2018
GABA, not BOLD, reveals dissociable learning-dependent plasticity mechanisms in the human brain.
Article in eLife, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Functional MRS studies of GABA and glutamate/Glx - A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Pooled it
- A checklist for assessing the methodological quality of concurrent tES-fMRI studies (ContES checklist): a consensus study and statement.Nature protocols · 2022Pooled it
- Frequency-dependent photic modulation of wakeful consolidation in visual learning.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Functional connectivity and GABAergic signaling modulate the enhancement effect of neurostimulation on mathematical learning.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Neurogenetic phenotypes of learning-dependent plasticity for improved perceptual decisions.Communications biology · 2025Article
- MRS-assessed brain GABA modulation in response to task performance and learning.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2024Review
- Recurrent inhibition refines mental templates to optimize perceptual decisions.Science advances · 2024Article
- The neurochemistry of learning-driven sensory eye dominance plasticity.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- The mesolimbic system and the loss of higher order network features in schizophrenia when learning without reward.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Enhancing visual perceptual learning using transcranial electrical stimulation: Transcranial alternating current stimulation outperforms both transcranial direct current and random noise stimulation.Journal of vision · 2023Article
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- Learning without contingencies: A loss of synergy between memory and reward circuits in schizophrenia.Schizophrenia research · 2023Article
- Learning at your brain's rhythm: individualized entrainment boosts learning for perceptual decisions.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Microstructural and neurochemical plasticity mechanisms interact to enhance human perceptual decision-making.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Enhancement of visual perception by combining transcranial electrical stimulation and visual perceptual training.Medical review (2021) · 2022Review
- Investigating the neurochemistry of the human visual system using magnetic resonance spectroscopy.Brain structure & function · 2022Review
- Where functional MRI stops, metabolism starts.eLife · 2022Article
- Neurochemical and functional interactions for improved perceptual decisions through training.Journal of neurophysiology · 2022Article
- Edited magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the neonatal brain.Neuroradiology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Experience and training have been shown to facilitate our ability to extract and discriminate meaningful patterns from cluttered environments. Yet, the human brain mechanisms that mediate our ability to learn by suppressing noisy and irrelevant signals remain largely unknown. To test the role of suppression in perceptual learning, we combine fMRI with MR Spectroscopy measurements of GABA, as fMRI alone does not allow us to discern inhibitory vs. excitatory mechanisms. Our results demonstrate that task-dependent GABAergic inhibition relates to functional brain plasticity and behavioral improvement. Specifically, GABAergic inhibition in the occipito-temporal cortex relates to dissociable learning mechanisms: decreased GABA for noise filtering, while increased GABA for feature template retuning. Perturbing cortical excitability during training with tDCs alters performance in a task-specific manner, providing evidence for a direct link between suppression and behavioral improvement. Our findings propose dissociable GABAergic mechanisms that optimize our ability to make perceptual decisions through training.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.